I have left this a couple of days before posting in order to allow my blood pressure to return to a safe level and not to try to write without the use of profanities - that may incur the moderators wrath. Here are the facts as I see them.
I live beside the river Dulas, a tributary of the Severn upstream of Llanidloes. The stream is an important (in my view) spawning/nursery area for trout and salmon. On Friday morning I left for work, at the bottom of the hill by the river bridge I was confronted by a stream of slurry coming from a neighbouring farm down their road and into the stream. The stream was totally brown with run-off and there was 'froth' about a foot deep across the road. Straight back to the house and phone the Environment Agency to report the pollution. Time 8.20am. I said that the pollution was in progress and someone should come out immediately. I returned through at 10.20am in my work car to find the farmer who owns the stream/land that was effected ( they are quite environmentally aware, and had also reported pollution) waiting for a visit. He went home eventually as nobody turned up, but apparently someone appear later. They had phoned my wife sometime after 9am from Shrewsbury (60 miles away) to ask directions! I have no idea what happened but when I went through at 10.20 the offending farmers mother was sweeping the road clean with a broom and the river was long running clear.
About 2 years ago I also reported the same farmer as he is in the habit of pumping his slurry pit out onto the fields above and sloping down to the stream - he would usually move the pipes just before the slurry entered the stream, a few yards short of the water, big deal! This time he forgot and it all went in, not sure what the result was but I never heard of a prosecution, though he was muttering about getting whoever reported him. This February his whole slurry tank burst - it was always leaky and unsafe - god knows how many thousand gallons of muck went into the river, there was a hell of a mess everywhere, the only possible saving grace being the stream was in full winter flood so may have diluted everything. The farmer below, the one mentioned above, had to have a replacement water supply to his house for weeks (he takes his water from the Dulas) - there is no 'mains water' in our village. The guilty party later boasted how he had 'got away with it'. The other farmer wrote a letter of complaint to the E.A demanding action, 4 months later he is still awaiting a reply!
It is all so unbelievably depressing I don't know where to start - 3 major pollutions from the same farm, all reported and nothing from the EA, they cannot even be bothered to turn up when it is happening. All I can do is apologise to all those that fish the Severn, this is what goes on in the hills of Wales (sorry to 'balls up' your post on the Severn Rayo - best we keep a low profile), unreported and who cares? I cannot add any more, just gutted and faith in the EA is long gone. grumps.
I live beside the river Dulas, a tributary of the Severn upstream of Llanidloes. The stream is an important (in my view) spawning/nursery area for trout and salmon. On Friday morning I left for work, at the bottom of the hill by the river bridge I was confronted by a stream of slurry coming from a neighbouring farm down their road and into the stream. The stream was totally brown with run-off and there was 'froth' about a foot deep across the road. Straight back to the house and phone the Environment Agency to report the pollution. Time 8.20am. I said that the pollution was in progress and someone should come out immediately. I returned through at 10.20am in my work car to find the farmer who owns the stream/land that was effected ( they are quite environmentally aware, and had also reported pollution) waiting for a visit. He went home eventually as nobody turned up, but apparently someone appear later. They had phoned my wife sometime after 9am from Shrewsbury (60 miles away) to ask directions! I have no idea what happened but when I went through at 10.20 the offending farmers mother was sweeping the road clean with a broom and the river was long running clear.
About 2 years ago I also reported the same farmer as he is in the habit of pumping his slurry pit out onto the fields above and sloping down to the stream - he would usually move the pipes just before the slurry entered the stream, a few yards short of the water, big deal! This time he forgot and it all went in, not sure what the result was but I never heard of a prosecution, though he was muttering about getting whoever reported him. This February his whole slurry tank burst - it was always leaky and unsafe - god knows how many thousand gallons of muck went into the river, there was a hell of a mess everywhere, the only possible saving grace being the stream was in full winter flood so may have diluted everything. The farmer below, the one mentioned above, had to have a replacement water supply to his house for weeks (he takes his water from the Dulas) - there is no 'mains water' in our village. The guilty party later boasted how he had 'got away with it'. The other farmer wrote a letter of complaint to the E.A demanding action, 4 months later he is still awaiting a reply!
It is all so unbelievably depressing I don't know where to start - 3 major pollutions from the same farm, all reported and nothing from the EA, they cannot even be bothered to turn up when it is happening. All I can do is apologise to all those that fish the Severn, this is what goes on in the hills of Wales (sorry to 'balls up' your post on the Severn Rayo - best we keep a low profile), unreported and who cares? I cannot add any more, just gutted and faith in the EA is long gone. grumps.
...j.w.
Ray
